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Zephon
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999) |race = • Human (birth) • Vampire: Soul Reaver era (until death) |gender = • Male |status = • Inactive: deceased, soul devoured (Soul Reaver era) |titles = • Sarafan warrior inquisitor • Fifth lieutenant of the Council • Patriarch of the Zephonim clan |territories = • The Silenced Cathedral |affiliation = • The Sarafan brotherhood • The Circle of Nine • Kain's empire • The Council • The Zephonim |gift = • Scaling walls |realm = • Material Realm |birthera = • Nosgoth's early history |voice = Tony Jay Unknown |appearances = • • • }} Zephon was a major character in the ''Legacy of Kain series'' , featured in ''Soul Reaver'' and ''Soul Reaver 2''. Initially born as a human in Nosgoth's early history, Zephon rose to become one of the elite Sarafan Inquisitors of the Sarafan Brotherhood. Zephon was killed by the time travelling wraith Raziel and entombed in the Tomb of the Sarafan for centuries before Kain raised him as the fifth of his vampire sons. Zephon in turn raised his own vampire clan, theMelchahimZephonim, who participated in the conquest of humanity. In Kain's Empire, Zephon was one of the leading 'Council', but he did nothing to prevent his vampire 'brother' Raziel 's execution. After Raziel returned as a wraith , Zephon was the second of his former brothers that he faced (and third boss overall). Zephon was voiced by Tony Jay. Biography Human Life Nosgoth's early history (Soul Reaver 2) Zephon was born as a human at some point in Nosgoth's early history. He would go on to join the Sarafan Brotherhood, eventually reaching the highly respected rank of Sarafan Warrior Inquisitor, one of the order's elite. Zephon infiltrated Janos Audron's aerie along with his comrades (Human Sarafan Inquisitors Raziel, Turel, Dumah and Melchiah) and assisted in JanosJanos' murder (the group having been led to Janos by a time travelling Wraith Raziel from the ''Soul Reaver era''). Tearing out the Heart of Darkness from Janos' chest and taking the Reaver blade, the Sarafan retreated to their stronghold. Janos' murder had dire consequences for Zephon, as the Wraith Raziel followed the Inquisitors back to the Sarafan Stronghold to avenge Janos' death and reclaim The Heart of Darkness, attackingSarafan Stronghold the Stronghold at the same time as Vorador's legendary attack on the circle (at the same location and with the same motivation). In the chaos, WraithRaziel was able to recover the Reaverthe Reaver and shortly afterward Zephon confronted the Wraith Raziel , along with his brother Melchiah, in the courtyard of the stronghold, taunting Raziel "come to take your revenge demon?". As the Reaver had made him virtually invincible, Raziel was able to easily kill Zephon (along with Melchiah), see also Melchiah and Zephon. Zephon was entombed with the other 'martyr' Sarafan Inquisitors for a millennium in the Tomb of the Sarafan. Vampire Unlife Post-Blood Omen 2 era When Kain discovered a method of creating vampires for himself, he raised the six Sarafan martyrs to serve as his vampire sons; breathing part of his soul into them to 'snare their souls' and reanimate their corpses (but keeping them ignorant of their previous human lives);Zephon was the fifth of the six to be raised . Presumably following Kain's method, each of his new lieutenants raised their own vampires, giving birth to the vampire clans (with Zephon raising the Zephonim) providing Kain with an army with which to conquer Nosgoth. In Kain's New Empire, Zephon was one of the members of the council which ruled Nosgoth, with Kain their only master. Zephon served Kain and the council for roughly a thousand years and over the centuries Zephon gained many new gifts along with his 'evolution'. Zephon was present at the council meeting where Raziel revealed his wings and he also witnessed Raziel's execution at the Abyss. At some stage around the time of Raziel's execution, under threat from the human's planned use of the sounding pipes of the Silenced Cathedral to eliminate the Vampires, Zephon and his clan invaded the the human Cathedral and set up their own territory within the Cathedral walls; blocking off the main sounding pipes in the Pinnacle of the Silenced Cathedral from access from the Cathedral below and making sure the sounding pipes would remain silent - ending the last hope thehumans had of defeating Kain's Empire. Vampire Unlife (Evolved) Soul Reaver era Over time, with Nosgoth slowly becoming a wastleland, Kain's Empire declined and the clans scattered, with Zephon (and the Zephonim) retreating to their territory in the Silenced Cathedral. Zephon and his clan would eventually devolve into 'insectoid' forms, with Zephon himself turning into a monsterous 'mantis-like' form (with a large 'egg-sac' beneath him) in the upper chambers ofthe Cathedral and growing so large that the chambers themselves essentially became part of his body. Eventually Zephon and his offspring would ascend to a deity-like status in the and many humanvampire worshipers (Adepts and Novitiates) took to worshiping the Zephonim in the Cathedral, capturing humans and otherwise assisting the Zephonim. When Raziel returned five centuries later, he visited the Silenced Cathedral after he had battled Kain at the Sanctuary of the Clans; using his newly gained Wraith Blade to break the Sealed Doors at the entrance to the Cathedral. Assailed by the 'spider-like'Zephonim, Raziel was eventually able to locate Zephon's chambers, in the upper reaches of the Cathedral. Raziel confronted his 'younger brother' with the two taunting each other's appearances and Zephon focusing on his "insect" attributes, telling Raziel how he saw little distinction between free-will and reflex action; and threatening him with his considerable appetite. Raziel fought Zephon, eventually disposing of his many limbs and allowing him to attack Zephon's 'egg-sac', dispensing an 'egg'; using the flamethrower of a dead Human Vampire Hunter to set several of Zephon's 'eggs' alight and throwing them at him, Raziel was able to burn Zephon to death (see also Zephon (boss)).With Zephon's death, Raziel was able to consume his soul gaining the Scaling Walls ability required to pass through the Sanctuary of the Clans and enter the Tomb of the Sarafan . Notes *During the development of ''Legacy of Kain: Soul Reave''r, '' Zephon had the codename "Wallcrawler" or "Wallcrawler Boss" based on his (and his clans) ability to Scale Walls. In mythology "Zephon" was an angel and "guardian prince of paradise" who was sent to discover the location of Satan; instead Zephon joined Satan's rebellion and was eventually cast out of heaven as a 'fallen angel' after the battle was lost; forever charged with fanning the flames of hell. *Zephon and his clan devolve developing insect (or arthropod) traits; Zephon himself resembles a large mantis-like creature, whereas the Zephonim develop into spider-like wall crawlers. Zephon and the Zephonim have use web cocoons to imprison their victims. Zephon ultimately comments that they have developed an "insect mind", seeing little distinction between "will and reflex action" and with Zephon acting like an inscet hive 'queen' - complete with insect-like eggs (though it was likely these egss were sterile), furthermore, Zephon resembled the queen of the 'Xenomorphs' from the film Alien). Insect-like enemies would return in [[Blood Omen 2|''Blood Omen 2]] , as Lesser Demon shared many of the Zephonim's insect traits, including the use of Web and cocoons. *The colour of the flags of Zephon's clan symbol subtly change from dark green to grey between the FMV intro and full-game. *Like some of the other [[Soul Reaver 1|''Soul Reaver ]] bosses (notably Melchiah, Dumah and Kain), Zephon shows a limted access to the Spectral Realm (without any reaction on Zephon's part). When Zephon is killed, his body, unlike those of his brothers (which disappeared), stays in place through the rest of the game. *Some time after he killed Zephon, Raziel would learn of he and Zephon's shared heritage as Sarafan Inquisitors , when he breached the Tomb of the Sarafan. Raziel initially heldthe Sarafan in high regard, but began to turn against them in [[Soul Reaver 2|''Soul Reaver 2]] eventually killing both his original human self and the original human Zephon; This ultimately means Raziel is responsible for both of Zephon's deaths. *In the Pre-Blood Omen era, the Human Zephon is memorialised along with his Sarafan Inquisitor brothers in the 'Chapter House' of the Sarafan Stronghold. *In ''Soul Reaver 2'', when Zephon dies, The Reaver , in it's blood-drinking state, can be seen to consume his blood. It does not consume his soul however (which quickly rises away); Raziel recognising that the Reaver is not consuming souls ultimately leads to his epiphany at the climax of ''Soul Reaver 2''. *In the Soul Reaver Early Beta, Zephon´s dialogue with Raziel is different as seen in Zephon Encounter video. Zephon himself is immovable and the sidechambers are accessible. In the later Beta Zephon Encounter, it is revealed that the sidechambers provided souls for Raziel to feed on in spectral and that Zephon had an additional claw which attacks Raziel if he stays in the sidechamber for too long. This gameplay mechanic was removed in the final version as Raziel can feed on the vampire wraiths and the chambers were cut off. Gallery SR1-Character-MainCast.jpg SR1-Evolved Vampire Zephon.png Sarafan zephon.jpg Texture-Mural-SarafanStronghold-InquisitorZephon.png Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver p10.jpg Defiance12GameStop.jpg Defiance14GameStop.jpg See also * Zephon at Wikipedia. * Zephon at Dark Chronicle (by Marie Walter). References }} Category:Characters Category:Soul Reaver characters Category:Soul Reaver comic characters Category:Soul Reaver 2 characters Category:Defiance comic characters